connecting to Mac mini M6

LucLugghe wrote:

Can I connect an Imac 27 inch , late 2013 with 3 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 (serial number ***) connect and use as a monitor with a Mac mini M6?

No. Although your iMac supports Target Display Mode, using Thunderbolt input, Apple added restrictions on the video source. These restrictions mean that a M6 Mac mini is too new to use any iMac as a Target Display.

You could spend $50 on an Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter and $30+ on a very hard-to-find Thunderbolt 1/2 cable, only to discover that this was not enough to let you use the iMac as a display – and that you had wasted $80+ on specialized Thunderbolt connection hardware for which you had very little other use.

Reference: Use iMac as a display with target display mode - Apple Support

Your iMac is also far too old to support AirPlay to Mac, a lower-quality way of using a Mac as a display.

Reference: Continuity features and requirements for Apple devices - Apple Support

No. An iMac is a computer, not a display. You will need to purchase a proper display within your budget and usage needs for connectivity to that M6 mini. I connect my M4 Mac Mini Pro to an LG 32-in 4K display using a Belkin HDMI cable.

Hundreds of users have asked this same iMac question over the years with the same No answer.

Like so many others, you're still seeing bad internet information written during COVID's work-from-home phase six years ago. Steaming piles were written about iMacs by hungry internet "journalists" lacking in research skills, editorial critique, or the ability to find Apple tech documents.

Those "writers" made it sound like any iMac could be a monitor for any other device ever made. Apple documents of the time clearly showed the very limited hardware and operating systems required to make Target Display Mode work. That trash lives on.

Besides, you'd need a free-standing monitor to even set up TDM even were it supported, which it is not.

Bottom line is all in the timing. Apple began the deprecation of Target Disk Mode in late 2014 and threw the last shovel of dirt in its grave in early 2020 before COVID took off.